Tuesday 15 August 2023

Battles at Britcon

We had an absolute blast this weekend at Britcon. I cannot praise this event enough- the venue is superb, Sid does a great job at organising the tournament, and I enjoy Nottingham. The games were very friendly and there was enough tome to see most to a conclusion, and some of the armies were really beautiful. There were trade stands, too!  I attach some photos, below. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Before the photos though, the next round of the Yarkshire Gamer World Cup of Wargames Rules has begun, and For King and Parliament is up against Grand Manner, it's most serious opponent so far. It's very tight- just one vote in it- so any support for our niche period set with its hard to read font and renaissance woodcuts would be very greatly appreciated! You can vote here.

Here are some photos of my first game of the tournament, proper.


My Hapsburg-Burgundian deployment was the same in most of the games- a camp anchoring my right, with a bombard and crossbows in it, and a long line of pike stretching to the left. English longbows on the extreme left and Maximilian with  a bodyguard of dismounted knights to the right of the pike. In this game I had the stratagem to force march, and pushed my left forward. I was fighting Simon Purchon's Sassanids, he's a very tough opponent and I've rarely (if ever) beaten him.


You can see my line breaking up (above), as Simon shifted most of his strength against my left.


My right began to break up under a hail of arrows and lance-charges by cataphracts. 


Above, the noose tightening around my fortified camp. Assaulted from both sides, it was ultimately defended only by a bombard, which put up a valiant resistance in the face of attacks by no fewer than four enemy units!


Simon was well ahead after the first hour, but I managed to fight back and took a lot of medals off him before he was able to finish me off. This is what usually happens when I play Simon. Although I lost, I felt I'd put up a brave fight!  I'll show pictures of some of the other games, tomorrow.

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